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xchloe_bxx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
earth_to_dani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
ellenwm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Addiction, Suicide, and Abandonment
outlast0002's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Addiction
katebella's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Addiction and Drug use
honeycupreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, and Torture
Minor: Addiction, Confinement, and Drug use
peggyluwho's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
crocs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
- spice : 1/5
- humour : 3.5/5
- emotional : 2/5
- characters: 4.25/5
- universe : 4.75/5
- setting : 4/5
- story : 5/5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Alcohol
Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use
egg_apologist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
In order to keep the chapters short so that the novel could move the plot along quickly, we (the audience) get very few scenes showcasing what any of the characters (main- or side-) were like before they became ExtraOrdinary individuals (EOs, for short). For example, instead of showing us how close Victor and Eli used to be before their inevitable falling-out (something that would’ve enriched their personalities pre-EO life and fleshed out their characters a lot more), we are given only the shortest glimpse into their lives together in college. We’re shown barely anything at all of their lives before they both decided to become EOs. The flashback scenes pretty much jump straight into showing how those two became EOs, and then their subsequent falling-out in the aftermath. Therefore, we don’t really see much of what they were like together before they fell out with each other; the audience is forced to simply trust that (at least on some level) those two used be friends. Since we don’t get to see much of how close they used to be, their falling out with each other (and therefore their “showdown” that the plot is pushing us towards) doesn’t end up having the same emotional impact that it would’ve had if we’d truly witnessed how close they had been in the past. Not including enough scenes showcasing their backstories also ended up making all of the characters feel just a little bit flat overall.
It is also hinted at (but never outright confirmed) that
To be honest, I feel bad giving this book such a low rating because I truly felt like it had so much potential. But I really do think that the choosing to prioritize creating suspense in the plot (i.e., choosing to keep all of the chapters incredibly short and fast-paced) over prioritizing fleshing out the characters’ backstories (i.e, writing longer chapters in order to “show” the audience more about the characters rather than just “telling”) is a HUGE mistake if the aim is to write a character-driven story. It would’ve been a genius move for a plot-driven narrative, but in a character-driven narrative, that decision only served to undermine the amount of time needed to write characters that are truly three-dimensional. This book was overall a little disappointing, but since it is the first in a series, I’m still willing to give the series as a whole the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully, this issue of writing a character driven story that doesn’t actually quite succeed in fleshing out characters enough gets improved upon as the series continues.
Graphic: Death, Violence, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Police brutality and War
chasinggrace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
You’ve got a closeted bisexual narcissist who you’re supposed to like bc he doesn’t kill people, but he was shitty BEFORE he became an EO. Then you’ve got a Christian with a God complex who kills people out of “duty.” I don’t like Eli at all but I just couldn’t get attached to Victor either.
I liked the concept and I thought the writing was good, but this didn’t hit for me the way it hit for other people. I will say - it does read like a Marvel comic, which was fun.
I’ll read the next one, but I wasn’t obsessed with this.
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail